The Digital Shift In Hiring: A Critical Review of Traditional and Contemporary Recruitment Techniques

The recruitment and selection landscape has undergone a significant transformation with the advent of digital technologies. This study critically reviews and compares traditional recruitment techniques—characterized by manual processes and subjective assessments with modern, technology-driven methods that leverage artificial intelligence (AI), applicant tracking systems (ATS), and predictive analytics. Through a systematic literature review guided by the CIMO (Context–Intervention Mechanism Outcome) framework and the PRISMA methodology, the research synthesizes findings from 70 peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2024. The analysis focuses on six core performance variables: cost-efficiency, time-to-hire, candidate experience, quality of hire, employer branding, and data-driven decision-making. The findings reveal that digital recruitment tools significantly enhance efficiency, scalability and hiring accuracy, while also improving candidate engagement and brand perception. However, they also present ethical and transparency challenges. Traditional methods, despite their limitations, continue to offer value in contexts requiring nuanced human judgment. The study concludes by advocating for a hybrid recruitment model that combines the speed and scalability of digital tools with the relational strengths of traditional approaches. This paper contributes to the evolving discourse on talent acquisition by offering a holistic, theoretically grounded and practically relevant comparison of recruitment paradigms in the digital era.